Michel Fox: Just Another Cop Story
by KaryraOLD
Summary: When Bryce shows up and requests the investigation of Jia's murder, Michel Fox is on the case! But it doesn't seem that he and his new partner get along very well... Oneshot, rated T for blood and suggestive themes.


Michel Fox: Just Another Cop Story

Karyra: Now to satisfy my curiosity of where Michel was all that time.  
>Michel: You wrote it! Why wouldn't you know?<br>Karyra: Maybe I would, maybe I wouldn't.  
>Michel: You don't anything from the original series (i.e. Sly, Murray, Bentley... the list goes on.) (But I <em>do own<em>, Rei, Murph, Bryce, and Michel!)  
>Karyra: Now that that's out of the way, time to delve into the mysterious mind of the only cop worthy of chasing Rei! (This is around the end of the story, before the teaser at the end.)<p>

(I apologize for any inconsistencies with Fayth's accent and a _real_ english accent. . Or any other accents really. I'm getting the hang of them.)

~Freeze!~

_ Thump Thump. Thump thump._ Michel Fox's yellow jacket now had wrinkles, and his shirt had a few coffee stains, not that he hardly had his coffee for more than a few minutes before some intern ran into him, and his jeans were scuffed with dirt from tackling criminals. He was told to take some time off, because of his streak of a criminal takedown a day. He had already accomplished this, and had been bored, waiting for the sun to go down and his dismissal.

In short, it was too easy for the young Interpol agent.

"Michel!" That would be Michel's boss, probably yelling at him for throwing his ball against his wall in boredom... again.

Michel sighed and stood up, he had already had this lecture four times this week. The twenty-year-old was bored and cooped up, waiting for news about Rei Cooper. He had been so sure she was camped up in Paris. Four weeks, mind you, four weeks of wasted manpower. Michel was about to scream. Marching back into his Boss's office, he contained his frustration as much as he could.

"Michel, do you know why you are in here?" The bear behind the desk growled out.

"I was bouncing the ball against your wall while-" Michel started to say.

"No, as much as I wanted to talk to you about that... that isn't what you're here for. You have been without a partner for a month... after Ceyla turned in her two week notice. Now tell me why the hell you haven't taken one of those probies I sent you yet." Michel's boss replied, keeping the anger from boiling to the surface.

"None of them have potential." Michel replied coolly.

"Well, I'll just have to give one to you. They aren't there to make you look good, they are there to keep your butt from going into the fire!" The boss pointed to his left where a white arctic fox waited.

"This is Fayth. She'll be your partner all the way from England, and by George you'd better not let her die or quit this time!"

'Fayth', the white fox in the corner, was dressed in a plan white shirt and brown vest complete with blue jeans and knee high boots. Her face was scraped up, but he clothes didn't indicate that, they were sparkling clean. When Michel glanced at her, only hard yellow eyes glanced back.

"None have died sir, only quit." Michel clarified.

"Don't let it be the first time!" He yelled.

"Don' worry. I won't let 'im get to me." Fayth finally interjected, tired of the two bickering men.

"I expect her settled in your office by tomorrow!" He called as Michel and Fayth began to walk outside.

When outside and in front of his office, "Listen, don't get in my way, and I'll make sure you aren't hurt." Michel informed Fayth.

"Listen, I've plenty of experience takin' down scumbags and the like. I'm gonna get the job done, and _you _should stay out of _my_ way." Fayth replied, folding her arms and whisking her tail back and forth.

"I take down the scumbags now probie.**"** Michel stressed the word _probie._

"It's _Constable_ Fayth. I've been an officer for awhile now. I told him I had no interest in getting a partner that oversees everything and never _does_ anything." Fayth chided.

"I've arrested far more criminals than you!" Michel yelled, opening the door to his office.

"Like who?" Fayth sincerly doubted this.

"I've arrested the Muggshot family, General Li-" Michel started.

"How about your endless search for this 'Rei Cooper' character? You catch her yet?" Michel gave her a nasty glare.

"I have nearly caught her, several times in fact. She is real!" Fayth rolled her eyes at this.

"No one's even seen her except you, she's _not real._" Just as Michel was going to reply, a figure stood in his office, and it looked a lot like...

"Rei Cooper! I caught you at last!" Michel yelled, and the duo pulled their guns. The resounding clicks made Bryce slightly uneasy.

"I'm afraid Michel, you are quite wrong." Bryce replied, taking off the cap, and the gear he usually wears. "Ugh, I hate doing this. Anyway, back to why I'm here..."

"You're gonna let 'im walk all over you? I'd 'ave taken 'im in by now. Breakin' into yer office and all." Fayth said, even though when Bryce announced himself Michel put his gun down, she did not. She didn't even waver when Bryce said not to shoot.

"He didn't break in, I gave him a key," he turned back to Bryce. "Sit down, tell me what you're doing here. Before I take my partner's advice at least." Michel said, keeping his urge to bust Bryce down.

Fayth resentfully lowered the gun. She also shot another dirty look at Michel. Bryce sat down, crossed his legs and secretly messed with the order of Michel's papers.

"I need a favor, I need a few days off and I need you two to... solve a mystery for me." Bryce plopped a small book with some dark brown stains and a bullet hole onto Michel's desk.

"Wha? Why on earth would we do that you bloomin' idiot!" Fayth said, reaching once more for her gun. "I should just arrest ye and get it all over with!"  
>"Michel's not the only one I got dirt on Ms Fayth Isar. I'm certain that you wouldn't like your promising career in InterPol cut short by a little... unearthing." Fayth put her gun down, she also said some unflattering things when she did."Listen about a month ago..." Bryce started.<p>

"A _month ago!_" Michel interrupted, he'd never solved a case over a week old. The longer the amount of time between cases mean that suspects would get alibis, evidence would deteriorate, and it was just too difficult.

"A friend of mine, Jia Li-" Bryce tried to say.

"You mean _she's related to that criminal GENERAL Li_." Fayth interrupted.

"I can see why you two are partners-" Bryce was losing his patience.

"WE ARE NOT PARTNERS!" Michel and Fayth said at the same time.

"Was shot-" Michel interrupted at that time by arguing with Fayth. Bryce was at the end of his rope. "Shut the _hell_ up!" They did. "Listen, month old crime, you solve, Jia Li! If I have to blackmail you... may whoever you believe in save you! 'Cus I'm gonna bury you both so much you couldn't get a job at some fast food restaurant!"

Silence filled the room. The duo stood stunned. Bryce got up and left, but this time leaving some evidence behind rather than taking it with him. It was quiet for a long time after he left.

"You're not working!" Bryce called from behind the door.

They jumped and began to work, Fayth thumbed through the book. Michel began to rifle through his papers for the one on General Li.

"Dammit where is it?" Michel called.

Bryce chuckled from the other side of the door, he had scrambled up Michel's papers, counterproductive, but fun.

"Alright," Fayth said once she thought Bryce was clear, "we could probably turn him in for blackmail..."

"No, I said I gave him a key, I wouldn't put it past him to wiggle his way out of the charges." Michel resentfully replied.

"We surely aren't gonna answer 'is request are we?" Fayth said, just staring at Michel.

"Well... it would be a challenge..." Michel pondered.

Fayth protested this, "No way are we going to take a case from some criminal! We are InterPol, we take the scumbags down 'fore we get requests from 'em!"

"We should at least take a look at the coroner's report." Michel said.

"Fine," Fayth grumbled, "but if this case turns out to be open and shut we leave it be."

"Deal."

A short walk later, the duo reached the morgue, where no one had cleaned up in preparation for Michel and Fayth. In other words, an autopsy was taking place right in front of them. Michel was ready to head back upstairs and forget all about the ordeal. However, Fayth was determined to get that file, and no dead body was gonna stop her.

"Sir, may I," She gagged at the guts splattered all over his visor. "please have the case file on..." Fayth walked closer to the Coroner, which made Michel just move closer to the waste bin. "Jia Li."

The coroner looked up from his work and removed his visor. "Sure, wished you had called me first, Mr. Raliegh would have preferred his privacy." He gestured to the dead frog on the autopsy table. "Give me second to wash this off."

Michel looked greener than the patient on the table. "M-maybe..."

"I thought you said that you solved lots of cases. Why would this bother you?" Fayth asked Michel.

"I don't usually come in while he's _butchering_ someone!" Michel replied, leaning back over his trash can.

Fayth simply watched him, but took a sheet from a neighboring table and covered the deceased frog. "Better?"

"A-a little..." Michel replied from inside the trash can.

Fayth waked back over to Michel,"I don't know how you-"

"Ah, so you need that file on Ms. Li, a shame she was such a pretty girl. So young..." The coroner muttered at he flipped through his filing cabnet.

"Cause of death?" Fayth asked for Michel, who was now significantly less green.

"Gunshot to her heart, a quick death. Looks like someone tried to keep her from bleeding out though," He tilted the picture to the pair. "See the fingers marks made from blood? Someone tried to staunch the bleeding with their own hands."

"She wasn't alone, look at the bag," Michel finally was feeling well enough to comment. "That's too much food for one person. She also doesn't appear to have any way to refrigerate the food. She also was seen in a gas station with another female person."

"True, but I don't think she was shot by the second person, there's no powder burns, and the alley's pretty small, if she was far enough away, everyone on the street would have seen her." Michel added.

"Yeah, but its also possible she used a silencer." Fayth pointed out.

"No, the bullet recovered was shot by a 7.62x51mm M40." The coroner added.

"The one used by Marines?" Michel asked.

"Yes. How the shooter got one is still a mystery, but I suppose that's what this is." Coroner finished.

A pause and Fayth relented, "Can you examine the body again?"

"Maybe, provided the family didn't reclaim it once it was released." Coroner pondered. "Or they let us exhume it."

A glance was shared by the duo, but nothing was needed to be said, not yet anyway.

"Thanks for your time... Mr..." Michel asked.

"Franks. Steve Franks." The Crocodile answered.

"Thank you Mr. Franks..." Michel said as he shoved Fayth out the door, "We'll just be going now..."

The coroner simply slipped back on his robes and went back to work on the dead frog. "Dead of a heart attack eh..." He checked his chart quickly. "Sir Raleigh?" He washed up one last time and went back to work.

Meanwhile, Michel was thinking about the book Bryce had given them. Bloodstains and a bullet hole... why was it teasing him? Completely oblivious to his partner, he went back upstairs -using the elevator this time- and opened the door before realizing that Fayth was his partner and he should probably talk about his with her.

"Nice to see you've finally remembered me." Fayth scathingly said to Michel. "I'm even glad you've 'ad the sense of mind to-" Michel simply left the door open went to his desk completely ignoring her.

Fayth gave up and sat down at her desk, crossing her arms and pouting. Michel however, was busy hunting through the book Bryce had given them.

_今天，我在我家的盗贼规划的房间里塞进。即使在哉。我简直不能相信，可爱的鼠标没想到我的魔法__! _Was what the book had written inside. Michel could only barely translate it, but it looked like: 'Was shoved into the room where thieves in my house are planning. Even zài was there. I can not believe the mouse didn't think I had magic!' Some words were missing, but it was mostly put to interpretation. **(A/N: DO NOT translate. Stupid google translate goofed it up. Erg.)**

Michel flipped forward, but most of what was written was taken by the bullet hole. He sighed and put it down, the last page's last words was only just visible. '...don't want to die.' To Michel, it seemed like she knew she was going to die that night, to live amongst thieves and liars, and fade out. He'd heard, of course, about Mz. Ruby, the alligator with mystic powers. They say she was childlike in her ways, but plays with the corpses the dead.

"You gonna go home soon? It seems to me that we 'ave 'it a dead end. We'll go to Washington D.C. tomorrow, who knows, maybe we'll actually get somewhere. Or we'll get the person with 'er. Ya never know, but its late and we won't get anywhere without sleep." Fayth said, while shaking Michel's shoulder.

"You're right..." He got up and stretched. "but I don't know what we'll find."

"Tomorrow's a new day. We'll see when we get there." Fayth was trying to be optomistic.

Michel left, locking the door behind him, and walking out of headquarters.

He thought about Ceyla, he thought about Fayth, but most of all he thought about Rei on his hotel room's couch. She was bleeding, hurting, and crying out for her mother and her father. She even sobbed while delirious, but Michel couldn't figure out why. Bryce had no clue about the yelling. All he knew was that he had to uphold some ancient law, and help out his target, no matter how much it would help his career. No matter how long he had been chasing her. However, he thought about how quiet and still she was when she wasn't awake. Granted both times she was totally out of it and had been injured, but when she was awake, she was a grey spot in Michel's black and white world.

He then thought about the raccoon in his government class that had blown it up. He didn't think it was on purpose, he just wasn't too sure how. What he remembered most of all, was her words about how sometimes it would take someone who worked outside of the law to manage to get real action done swiftly. Michel argued that if there wasn't any law applicable to anyone, then it would be chaos, people doing whatever just because they could.

Before Michel could finish his walk down memory lane however, he was home. A small apartment that he could consider a place of dwelling. A place in the world that wouldn't change even if _he_ did. No pets, no TV, just a radio in the corner as gift from one of his coworkers. A small window served as a way moonlight could flitter in, but Michel didn't care. He walked over to his bedroom, again with almost nothing in it, with a door leading to his bathroom and a another window, which was constantly covered with a curtain. He stripped off his jacket and shirt, which he was going have to wash both eventually, and thought about how his life. This was perfectly normal, and it was a habit he cherished at night. Something he could feel, something that wasn't a lie.

Michel Fox wasn't his name, except for the Michel part, he had forgotten the 'a' when he changed it. Legally it was his name, Michael Rechin was his real name, and only one other person knew. His parents, of course, knew he went into Interpol to study. But Michel was set to be Mr. Fox for a very long time. Hopefully he wouldn't get caught, but he had covered his tracks well. Well, it was legal and he shouldn't dwell upon it, it would be stupid. Michel Fox closed his eyes and went to sleep.

He dreamed in black and white, and he saw himself as a criminal. Rei was chasing him down in some weird reversal of the -what felt like- near-lifelong chase for the two. Dammit, why didn't she do something to get caught? Michel was getting tired of this circle of roundabout theft and escape. Months, nearly a year now, had been wasted in his pursuit. He didn't even know where she came from. With that damn twinkle in her eye, and a smile like she knew something he didn't... in the dream she kissed him while he rode back in the police van.

Michel jolted awake just as the light began to enter in from behind the curtains. He had fallen asleep in his clothes, but he had just enough time to run down stairs and wash his shirt and jacket. Michel spied a shirt on his floor, snatching it up, he put it on after deciding that it wasn't smelly. He walked down three flights of stairs, shoved his shirt and jacket -badge and gun removed, last time he hadn't and he ended up owing money for a new washer- into the machine and let it run for a long time. He again sat around, waiting for the chirp that would signal that it was done.

His hair was hanging in his eyes again. Without a doubt, he would need to get it cut again. How much money did he have to get it cut back to regulation again? He sifted through his pockets. He had a quarter, some bills, and he remembered that he might have enough francs to buy something other than ramen for once.

Those damn hotel bills add up fast.

The _ping _of the washer and the slam of the door resonated at the same time. Michel ignored the door and moved his one jacket and his coffee-stained shirt to the dryer. He checked his cheap digital watch. One hour until he was to meet up with Fayth for his flight. And here he thought he was done with jetlag. He was up for a _year_ of paperwork after the whole rise and fall of Rei. How long had she been stealing again? A month maybe? A year?

As he pondered this, the woman who had entered plopped her laundry down and glared at him. "It's bad enough that you're my partner _and_ live in my building, but do you 'ave to lean against the other washer?" There she was.

Inwardly, Michel cursed his bad luck, and some other things too. He sighed and leaned off the second washer, and sat on the one he had just used. "Nice to see you're a morning person." He commented, noting her fluffed up bedhead and wrinkled shirt.

"I try to look my best when I do laundry in a dirty apartment building." She shoved some of her shirts into the washer, "and in case you missed it, I really don't like mornings." And Michel could just barely hear above the washer, her mutter, "and you."

Michel mentally reeled. For just a second... she sounded just like Rei. "_No, you need to focus on that month-old murder."_ He chided himself.

_Ping._ There was his clothes. Michel snatched them up and left as quickly as he came, only this time, 'springtime fresh' scent was left in his wake.

"An' bring your game face! We're gonna take down that criminal scum!" Fayth called after him. Her fist was pumped in the air, clearly estatic.

"I always have a game face... I just don't know anymore..." Michel muttered.

As Michel marched up the stairs again, he just stopped on the second floor, and looked down on his feet and sighed. He just didn't feel like going into that depressing area he called 'home'. Yet he marched upward anyway. He fumbled with the key, but ultimately got the door open.

"Michel. Get a cat." Said Fayth behind him. "And open the windows, this place looks like a grey wasteland."

"Are you done criticizing my apartment now?" Michel asked sarcastically. "I need to get back into uniform."

"We don't have uniforms." Fayth replied, still eying the kitchen which only held the color of green in the sink.

"I like my uniform." He thought it like dressing up as a superb cop. Like Carmelita.

"I shall repeat this. We don't wear uniforms. We 'ave some time before the flight," At this she handed michel his gun and badge, "lets go shopping, I really hate that color of yellow." Fayth scolded.

"But I really think that it looks like-" But he never got to finish describing it.

"Lock your door, we'll be out until the flight." With a rare and wry smile, she folded her arms over her chest.

"Don't you need a purse or something?"

"I'm gonna 'it ya one of these days I swear."

With that they were off, Fayth insisted on walking -not that Michel had a car anyway couldn't really afford to haul it around- to a place she called 'The Open-Air Mall'. Michel had never heard of it, but he rarely had enough time to even be _in_ France, let alone explore it. Even though Michel was skeptical, he was glad for the brisk cold air, which would mean it would soon snow.

"Don't go day dreamin'. We're here." Fayth intruded upon his thoughts.

And indeed they were. The Open-Air Mall was indeed open air. The entire roof looked as though it never existed, and as Fayth dragged him through each store, he saw none of them had a rood either.

"How- How do they keep the snow from getting in...?" Michel wondered.

"Plexiglass. Its pretty thin, so you can't see it, but they keep the vents working to make it feel like we're outside." Fayth smiled as she picked through racks of men's clothes.

Michel was secretly getting more and more worried as she passed through the -occasionally- sparkly clothes. She at last thrust a brown vest and a white shirt at Michel, and dragged him to the dressing room.

"I'll be here." Was all she said.

"But-"

"I don't have all day!" She snapped.

"How am I-"

"Does it matter right now?" Came the retort.

Rather than argue Michel went docilely into the blank room with the sales clerk.

"Is she your girlfriend?" The grey wolf asked.

"Worse, she's my partner at work."

The clerk only cringed at the thought, but said nothing on the topic.

Michel changed quickly, noting the amount of Francs he would have to pay for the outfit. Far too much. Michel walked out and grimaced when Fayth said that she needed to go to another store. He changed again and she dragged him off to a store selling graphic t-shirts. She picked a few with comic book superheroes, a few with video game characters, and even less the ones that were much more subtle.

"Fayth, I really don't think that-"

"Michel, you need weekend shirts... or _shirts_ for that matter." Michel rolled his eyes at her. One was working for him -granted it usually started smelling around wednesday...- it made him look professional.

"Fayth, I don't even know what symbol is on this shirt." Michel held up a shirt with a target with a blue and white star in the middle.

Fayth relented and they found a store and bought a few dark blue shirts -and at Fayth's request- a black jacket with grey streaks along the back. As they exited, Michel couldn't help but feel better, but he soon noticed that Fayth had swerved toward a salon. Michel checked his change. Just enough according to that sign on the outside.

"Why are we going here? I just wanna go to the airport..." Michel asked.

Fayth replied, "You look like there's a dirty mop on your head." And after a moment she continued, "I'll pay."

Michel was slightly worried about this now. Paying would mean she was in control of his haircut, which -based on her taste in clothes- frightened Michel.

But he was too grateful to refuse.

"Th-thanks..." He muttered.

"Listen, I only have one demand though." Michel used every piece of his willpower to not cringe.

_"And there it is..."_ Michel thought woefully.

"I want you to smile! Since this morning, you've been depressed. The only reason I brought you out 'ere was I thought you were gonna shoot yourself or something." Michel and Fayth waited there for a few seconds. "I want to try to smile _right now._"

Michel twisted his face into something that looked like a cross of a smile and a grimace.

"Close enough." Fayth remarked at last. "I need ya to solve this mysterious case anyway."

"Did we ever register this with InterPol?" Michel remembered at last.

"Why would we?" Fayth asked.

"Its just... I think that we'd need to tell them the two of us were going to America."

"Well, we could swing by after the haircut."

"But-"

Fayth gave him a glare that shut him up immediately. "Now, come." With that she snagged Michel's arm and dragged him inside.

~Freeze!~

In the end, Fayth had actually set it up so that she knew exactly how the haircut would end. She had specified it with the barber, and a few minutes later Michel walked out with only an inch cut off and the rest spiked up.

"You do realize I need hair gel in order to keep this up right?" Michel asked Fayth as the two walked out.

A pity he knew the answer. "Its already in your apartment mailbox."

As the two walked toward InterPol, Michel pondered what exactly they were going to say to the Chief. Michel was inclined to lie and say they had been called away rather than say they wanted vacation time. The chief would no doubt look down upon his request for downtime, seeing how one time Michel said he slept in the living room of a woman due to his inability to secure a hotel room for a case. He swore it was one time and they had been pen pals for years.

The next day rumor had spread that Michel Fox had a girlfriend at last; along with several other things. Michel grinned as he remembered smashing the guy's nose in. "_Suspension was worth it_," he thought.

All too soon the two arrived at the station.

"What are we gonna say?" Was the unasked question between the pair.

They strode in, Michel, for the first time in his life, with a half-baked plan. Whereas Fayth knew exactly what she was gonna try and do. Before either could execute them however, an oriental stork came to them at the counter of the station.

"Ahm," With this strange muttering, the stork sprang to meet them, shaking their hands and eyeing their guns. "You are here to investigate my niece's murder yes?" Michel had only opened his mouth halfway before the stork began to talk once more. "I hear good things about you two..." He had a curious gleam in his eye as he spoke. "Why are you not on a plane to Washington? It take off in thirty minutes."

Fayth tried to get a word in, but failed.

"Go! No time, I tell chief!" The stork shoved the two out the door and back onto the sidewalk. The duo lacked the words to describe what happened.

And off they sped, trying to beat the clock and reach the flight before the take-off time. The attempt to enter was a blur, "Tickets please..."

"Here they are."

"Are you carrying a weapon or any metal?"

"Yes, here." They handed over their guns.

"Do you have permits?" They then handed over their badges.

"Here. We need on that plane!" Fayth yelled.

"Do you need to solve a murder or something?"

"Yes, now if you could let us on that plane..."

"Do you have any carry on?" Neither of them had remembered to pack.

"Nope." Michel and Fayth said in unison.

"Hurry up and get your seats then... next..." The bored boar at the counter listlessly replied.

With speed unknown to either of them, they raced to the plane and took their seats so that they looked almost as though they had been in some race. The other occupants of the plane clapped. Fayth and Michel had separate seats, and Fayth was near the front of the third class area, while Michel was stuck in the back row of it. What was worse was he was stuck next to a couple who constantly fought, made up, then made out. What was worse was the making out wouldn't be noticed by the stewards. It usually went something like this:

"You don't like my eyes?"

"No, I love your eyes, I just don't like all of the makeup on them-"

"You don't like my makeup!"

"I love your makeup-"

"You said you hated it!"

"No, I said-"

The young female cat burst into tears pulling back and hitting Michel's book, "B-but... y-you..."

The deep-voiced dog tried to avoid the stares that were now trained on them. "Sugar... stop crying..." He then leaned down to whisper something in her ear and she stopped crying.

"Do you really mean that?" She flung her arms around him and the smooching would begin... again.

Michel focused on his book, but the cat would occasionally kick into his book seeing how she was to his right, tearing his eyes off of it and he would resist using force with every touch of his being.

_"I could call assault and arrest them right here." _An evil grin crept upon Michel's face. _"Then __again, I'd have to turn around to get them in the nearest cell..."_

And thus went the flight, all thirteen hours worth.

First it was makeup, then it was her boots... followed by her shooting ability. How the last one even factored in would be interesting to even begin to describe. At last, Michel succumbed to sweet slumber.

"Hey, what cha' doin' here Inspector?" Yelled the echoing voice of Rei.

Michel reached for his gun. "Fulfilling one of your outstanding warrants!" Michel's eyes scanned for Rei, but she was nowhere.

"That's not your top priority though." Michel thought her voice sounded... younger.

"Yes it is!"

"Why?"

Stunned silence followed.

"We're here." Michel's eyes opened to an empty plane.

Fayth was leaning over him, poking his face with his own book.

Michel responded with snatching his book back and marching down the aisle of the plane angrily. A short drive later, they arrived at the crime scene.

"Did no one noticed someone died here?" Michel said, -mind you he was trying not to puke- "They didn't even clean any up..."

The bloodstains were still on the ground, clear as the day Jia had been shot. It was like time had not even touched them.

"The rain washed some away, but..." Fayth leaned down and swabbed the bloodstains from the dark wet alleyway. "I think we can get a positive match from it."

"The bullet must've been moving pretty slow... most of it pooled on the ground here." Michel gagged, but continued anyway. "See?" He pointed at the walls, which were only barely speckled with the crimson liquid.

_"Can't read my, can't read my, no he can't read my Poker Face-"_ Rang Fayth's phone.

She dug the phone out and Michel could only listen to Fayth's side. "Hello?" A long pause and, "Really? That's... extreme." More of a pause. Michel couldn't help but wonder _what_ was so extreme. "Yikes, can you read any of the bullet?"

_"There was writing on the bullet?"_ Michel pondered. _"I've never heard of case like- no, I actually have! But the bullet was so smashed that you couldn't read or fix it so you could read it."_

"Thanks, can you call us back with anything you find." However, Michel didn't notice until what Fayth said next. "That was Franks. He said that there were symbols of occult orgin on her palms."

Michel nodded.

"She carved them in with a knife." Michel winced, but she went on. "There was writing on the bullet. A three letter name is the best Franks can do until he can get that to the proper forensics. For all we know, the second person could have been the target."

"We need to investigate the hotel room don't we?" Michel asked.

Fayth nodded. "Yup."

Yet another car trip later, they showed up at the run down hotel. The occasional window was boarded up, and the number of gang symbols on the side of the building made Michel think that this was some kind of rat infested hole and that a drive-by could happen at any time. This was a place where Rei would probably hide out. The two marched inside, their hands drawing nearer to their guns with each step.

"Hi, can I help you?" Said an elderly dog with an italian accent.

Michel was the first to talk. "Yes, can we be directed to-"

"The magic room?" The elderly dog asked.

"The magic room?" Fayth concealed a snort behind her hands.

"Yeah... we need the one where a tiger and another one was staying for the night about a month ago." Michel was not too thrilled about this.

"Oh, of course! That _is_ the magic room officers." The elderly dog replied, digging for the keys.

"So what does this 'magic room' do? Grant wishes?" Fayth giggled.

"Naw, it appeared one day after the murder... poor girl. Her friend was so upset." He paused. "And bloody. But I'm not gonna judge, she mighta tried to save 'er."

_"He's... so positive... but he lives in the middle of gang hell."_ Michel observed.

He handed the two of them the key to the desired room, and after what was a fitness-gym's worth of stairs later, they were at the door.

"I hope this room isn't bloody too." Michel whined.

"What, you think your gonna puke this time?" Fayth teased. "Be an improvement to the place as far as I'm concerned." The key turned in the lock, and Michel actually ran to find the bathroom in the next open room.

The room was spattered with arcane writings, and a pentagram under where a bed had been. The beds had been removed, and there was nothing left in the hotel room. Each symbol was painted out in blood. Fayth stood in the doorway for the longest time. She said nothing. The crystal ball in the center of the pentagram glowed slightly, reflecting the small amount of light that creeped into the room. Once Michel returned from his session with the porcelain god, he started to think logically.

"No way the victim had this much blood _in_ her." He gagged, but trudged along regardless. "She must've packed it with her from china..." the thought made his normally orange fur turn a strange shade of green. "Maybe... there is a camera in the lobby of her leaving that night. _Something_ caused this. Now way she just did this for no good reason. The footage might help us find who was with her that night. The other person must've witnessed the murder, if we can find them we can catch the murderer!" He finished.

"I think at this point in an anime you would have a microphone or something equally strange." Fayth teased.

"What's 'ani mei'?" Michel asked, but Fayth just looked at him in shock.

"When we get back, I'm making you watch Digimon or something." With this they marched back down the stairs, and the duo once again reached the shabby lobby.

Fayth was now acting immature and had slid down the banister on the handrail.

_"I'm a professional..."_ He would tell himself was he walked down. It didn't mean he wasn't tempted, he still was. How very much he was.

"You have any footage of the night Jia Li died?" Michel asked.

"Sure do, was waitin' for someone to pick-a it up." He replied. "Or do you just wanna see it now?"

Michel was gonna say that they would watch it at the crime lab, but Fayth interceded. "We'd love to watch it here!"

"I forget... how old are you?" Michel asked in the hopes she was fifteen or eighteen to explain this behavior.

"Twenty." Fayth said. "But not now! We've gotta catch this son of a-"

"Here ya are." The dog said at last.

There was a Raccoon and Tiger heading out. A cat was sitting at the counter, reading a book.

"There's our vic," Fayth pointed at the tiger.

"No way... pause it real quick." Michel commanded of the dog. When he did, Michel saw the black ear tips, and he knew. "That's Rei Cooper... no..." Michel sat down on the floor, as no nearby chairs would do.

"You're telling me-" Fayth started.

"That Rei Cooper is real!" Michel jumped up into the air and pumped his fist and did an uncharacteristic victory dance.

The elderly dog whispered to Fayth, "Does he do this often...?"

"I have never seen him crack a smile yet." Fayth replied, stony faced. But a thought struck her. "Hey, can you start the video again? I thought I saw the cat speak."

"You can't hear it, there is no sound." The dog said.

Michel was busy dancing. To him it felt so good to be silly, he had always been so serious. Was it fair to Fayth to rub it in her face? _No_. But Michel didn't know he looked like a gargoyle that had hot food in his pants. And was trying to disco it away.

"Hey Michel, I know who killed her." Fayth tried to butt in.

Michel stopped dancing and he returned to his stony seriousness. Fayth, still disturbed by his dancing and angered by her lack of ability to record it an put it on the internet, pointed at the cat at the counter. "She told a unit to mobilize. In fact she said, 'The target is exiting the building.'"

"How does this prove anything? She could be reading out loud." Michel retaliated.

"There's a bluetooth in her ear." Michel saw the small black device too.

"Ah. But-"

"I've seen her before..." Fayth muttered over Michel. "Not on the Interpol criminal board..."

"FBI's most wanted maybe?" The owner interjected.

"Wha?" The two interpol agents replied in unison.

"Thats right, she was last seen in-" Michel started.

"The run down building in the south of here-" Fayth continued

"Next to the old orphanage!" They finished together.

They just stood staring at each other for the longest time.

"You-" Michel couldn't finish. He loathed when people interrupted him.

Unfortunately, so did Fayth.

"Shouldn't you go catch the big murders?" The dog asked.

The two agents ran out, and called for backup.

"This is interpol agents Michel Fox and Fayth..." Michel had no idea of her last name.

"Alli." This struck a few bells with Michel, but he finished the alarm.

"Alli, we are going to pursue an FBI's most wanted. Cat Jilia and her partner Dog Ear. Requesting backup at 7776 Sliver avenue." Michel finished the call. "Weren't you in my class...?"

"I finished a month after you because I missed some papers." Fayth said bitterly. "Every time I had finished something ahead of my friends and enemies, you were there! First, ahead of me by a single second, point, milimeter!" She started on a rant, like this had been bottled up for some time. "I swear! I get a ninety-eight percent on my detective test, you got 99! Gah!" This was punctuated with a punch to Michel's upper arm. "Then I found out you were to be my partner, so I tried to help you! Then all of a sudden, you- you-" What exactly Michel did, he would not find out.

"We're here. If you got second place in our school, then you are good enough to serve as my backup. The kevlar vests are in the back. You ready for a firefight?" Fayth's mouth would have been on the floor of the car.

"I seriously think you are bipolar." She said as stony faced as Michel. "But I think if you are good enough in a classroom, you could be my partner." With that they shook hands. "But you are going to watch Princess Mononoke with me."

"Deal," Michel laughed.

_"She must be nuts, I can't even spell the second word of that movie..."_ Michel grimaced.

"To the kevlar protection!" Fayth yelled.

The two strapped on the protection and marched to the door. Their guns held high, they were ready.

Michel mouthed, "One... two... _three_!"

_Bang_. The door splintered open, and the two criminals sat there, still crouched over their M40. Fayth took a moment to punch her fist into the air. "We got our murders!" She said, almost singsong-y.

"Freeze!" Michel yelled over her, trying to look somewhat professional.

The two split up to escape the two cops.

"They never freeze..." Fayth grumbled. She cursed and signaled she would head right and Michel would go left.

Michel slid into the hallway with the retreating back of the cat shrinking in the distance. Michel was ready for the clichéd 'you'll never catch me alive!' However, only the panting of the cat was heard. The scrabble of her feet trying to find a purchase as she did a ninety degree turn made Michel run a little slower in preparation for it. Kat was thin, an orange tabby barely bigger than her tail, and piercings riddled her face and belly button. Her belly shirt looked uncomfortably tight, and Kat was holding the top from sliding off or flashing Michel.

"Stop running or will be forced to fire!" Michel yelled after Kat, who was now scanning the empty room for an escape.

Pale blue-white light flittered in from the window, which had one long board in it, no doubt for the protection of the two foul criminals living here. Kat stood there, and not seeing an escape, she turned around, hands up, and gave Michel a glare that could scare even the surliest of monsters.

"Hey aren't you that cat on the plane?" Michel asked.

"You're that boring old stooge on the plane!" Kat Jilia yelled over him.

Michel was offended. "'Boring old stooge'? I'm not _that _old..."

A gunshot from the next room.

_"Did Fayth fire?"_ Michel tried to focus, but these words crept in, shaking his confidence.

"Awww... did your girlfriend get shot? You forgot Dog is armed." Kat was playing with him. Michel kept his eyes on him. "That and your girlfriend is at a disadvantage in here. With these corners, she can't shoot straight." Kat gave a nasty grin. "So... are you going to arrest me or save your girlfriend? She could be bleeding out even now!"

Michel snagged her in cuffs as she tried to be sinister. He clipped her to a nearby pipe and ran to the gun shot.

"Hey! You ruined my sinister thing I had going on!" Kat yelled from behind Michel.

"Sorry, I'm kinda busy, let's continue this at police headquarters 'kay?" Michel yelled over his shoulder.

Everything felt like it was shot in slow motion. Michel careening around the corner of the door, seeing Dog pointing the gun at the cringing Fayth, who was favoring her left arm, but still held her gun in her right. Michel didn't say a word, but he could see her gun shaking, it was slight, but it would definitely throw her aim off. Dog was bigger than her, the M40 more of a toy in his hands. The ear facing Michel was pierced three times, each with a bigger silver hoop. He wore leather motorcyclist clothes, but there was a dim gleam in his eyes, like he wasn't the brightest bulb in the box.

Finally, after what felt like hours, Michel yelled to Dog. "Back up pup, or I'll shoot!" Michel wasn't sure why he was angry, but something about seeing someone point a gun at someone else to deliberately kill them seriously ticked him off.

"You know why I have these earrings?" Dog asked, lifting one hand to his ear. "I killed three cops. Two with the butt of this gun, and the third with the barrel."

"You didn't fire it? The probably would have worked better." Fayth asked.

"Wha- no... it sounds cool! But I'm gonna get a big earring after killin' you! Then a smaller one after killin' this guy here." Dog gripped his gun tighter.

"Really? Can't you get a tattoo or something? I mean, you could get a tally mark after you kill them." Michel commented.

"You wouldn't see them! These look cooler!" Dog growled.

"Welp, which officers did ya kill?" Fayth asked, haltingly.

"One looked kinda like you..." Fayth's tail lashed back and forth, but Dog didn't notice. "The second was some girl, she lasted longer than I thought though... the third was some kinda fox..."

Michel and Fayth were communicating silently.

_"What do you think?"_ Fayth's stare said.

_"We need to shoot this guy. We can't take him down without risking further injury."_ Michel glanced back.

_"Geez, I didn't think ESP was real."_ Michel noted as they raised their guns and gave the warning.

"Freeze, or we'll shoot!" Michel yelled.

"What he said!" Fayth echoed.

Dog raised his gun in reply, and before pressure could be put on the trigger, Fayth fired.

Michel could only see the shot between Dog's eyes, dead on, and as he fell, you could hear the pipe in the next room rattling, almost like Kat knew what had happened.

"I'll kill you!" Kat yelled from the next room. "I'll kill you-" she then strung a long chain of curses at the two of them, but Michel was numb.

Fayth had killed him.

That sentence chilled him to the bone. He had never pegged Fayth as the kind to kill with that fury in her eyes. In fact, he had _never_ seen the fury in her eyes that she held right now. Not even when she was yelling and punching him. Fayth too noticed this, but she remain frozen. Her mind was still registering exactly what she had done. Michel moved behind her and lowered her gun for her.

"I've never shot anyone before." Fayth muttered. She muttered this over and over, like this wasn't real, like she was dreaming.

"Its okay Fayth. We got 'em... we got 'em..." Michel just sat there, patting her shoulder, trying to find that crazy, fun partner that had grown accustomed to.

In the midst of the police coming in and the shouts for arrest and miranda rights, Fayth's phone rang.

_"Can't read my, can't read my, No he can't read my Poker Face-"_ Michel answered for her, she had the phone out but was fumbling with the buttons.

"Fox." Michel answered.

"Inspector! After some reconstruction, we managed to figure out what the bullet said." The cornoner paused. "Ier."

"You mean, Rei?" Michel replied. "Then..."

"That would mean the symbols were to draw the bullets toward Jia. It was a bad luck charm, or a maget charm of sorts. I looked it up." A new voice piped up. It was high and excited, like when Fayth was pigging out on candy. Michel could only shudder as he imagined that. "I also looked up the pictures Fayth sent to me. They were to look into the future and to hide it all from this 'Rei'."

Michel thanked them, and hung up.

"Why did you come back?" Michel asked Kat as she was dragged away.

"What? Why would you care?" Kat snarled at him.

"Why. Did. You. Come. Back?" Michel growled with even more venom.

"We killed the wrong person. We figured that she'd be here, but I hear that she got moved. A pity too, comatose people tend to be easy to kill." Kat tried to gloat, but cowered under his glare.

~Freeze!~

"How's the arm?" Michel asked Fayth as he entered her apartment.

It was lit with fake candles, and a couch and TV was settled into the opposite corners of the room to his left. He had entered the kitchen, and she was making popcorn in her microwave, her only appliance.

"Better, the bullet missed most of the veins and bone, meaning I'll have to work all the muscle back when I come out of this sling." Fayth shrugged, but Michel didn't miss the wince in her face as she did so. "But I made popcorn and the movie's all cued up! All we need to worry about is the characters in the movie!"

"Princess Mono?" Michel asked as he slid into the couch's seat.

"Princess Mononoke!" Fayth called from the kitchen.

Michel noticed a picture frame, alone on a table, with Fayth and a policeman. Glancing at the kitchen to make sure Fayth couldn't see, he crept over to get a better look at it. The elder white fox held Fayth on his knee still in uniform, but you could tell the mother was not quite as pleased about not dressing up for the family photo. But the plastic smile told him that this happened so often she was used to it.

"You want butter or you want it plain?" Fayth yelled from the kitchen.

"Just come in here so we can watch it already!" Michel yelled back. He sat back down on the couch and pretended he hadn't seen what he did.

And so the night went.

~Freeze!~

The ball bouncing began again. _Thump Thump._ Fayth was investigating a lead in China, and Michel was bouncing with his ball in headquarters. He and Fayth were arresting people left and right, some of which were mysteriously hung on poles bearing Rei's mark.

Michel had heard someone was busting up a gang in China, and Fayth went to investigate. Sadly Michel was stuck here, tying up all his unfinished paperwork.

_"Can't read my, can't read my, No he can't read my Poker Face-"_ Michel rolled his eyes. Fayth had changed his ring-tone again. He didn't even like the song.

"Hello?" Michel said, bouncing the ball against his boss's wall.

"There have been reports of a certain raccoon causing trouble here. Michel. Do you think...?" Said Fayth on the other side, she didn't waste time.

Snatching his ball from the wall bounce, he stood up, smiling, and out the door he replied, "On my way."

~Freeze!~

Karyra: Oh my... I'm done. *stunned silence*

Michel: You okay?

Karyra: *still silent*

Michel: Well...

Fayth: Happy new year guys! ^.^

Michel: And belated christmas!

Karyra: I've been working on this for so long...

Fayth: Way to ruin the flow. ¬.¬

Karyra: this is awesome! :D


End file.
